Seam for woven wire fabric



Feb. 23, 1943. w; J. TAYLOR 2,311,885

SEAM FOR WOVEN WIRE FABRIC Filed Nov. 19, 194;

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INVENTOR WILLIAM .J. TAYLOR 124. aim;

ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 23, 1943 'sEAM ron WOVEN wmn FABRIC William J. Taylor, Nutley, N. 1., assignor to Wilson Wire Works, Inc., Kearny, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 19, 1941, Serial No. 419,703 1 Claim. (01. 245- The invention relates to a. seam for Joining the ends of woven wire fabric to form an endless belt particularly adapted for use on Fourdrinier paper-making machines.

The invention has to do particularly with a seam in woven wire fabrics in which the warp wires are formed of a cable made up by twisting a plurality of relatively fine strands of wire around a cotton core. Cloth of this nature is better suited to withstand the heavy tension of a paper machine than single stranded warp wires and will greatly add to the life of the Fourdrinier wire.

Heretofore it has been customary to join the ends of wire cloth of this nature by means of a sewed seam. In order to reinforce the ends of the wire cloth and prevent the last weft wire from pulling out a stitching wire is looped around the end weft wire and extends around a number of weft wires spaced inwardly from the wire end. Loops formed by the stitching wire around the end weft Wire provide openings through which the closing wire can be laced, thereby joining the two ends of the fabric. This method of joining' ends involves a considerable accumulation of material in the region of the seam thus making that region more impervious to the passage of water than the rest of the fabric. The spirally wound lacing wire is particularly exposed to wear and tear and is quite apt to break before the wire cloth itself is worn out.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a seam for a woven wire fabric that will overcome the foregoing objections and particularly the one of clogging up the wire mesh which results in reduced drainage.

Another object is to provide a wire belt that will be practically as flexible in the region of the seam as in any other part thereof. This greatly adds to the life of the belt and causes less wear and tear on the paper machine.

Another object is to provide a wire belt which is just as strong in the region of the seam as in other parts thereof, thus insuring that the seam will not break before the win belt has out.- lived its usefulness.

In accordance with the invention each end of the wire fabric is prepared with silver solder or other analogous material. The ends of the twisted cable warp wires are cut off beyond the last weft wire andare positioned in such a way that the silver solder by capillary attraction flows from each upper wire end to the adjoining lower wire end. All of the twisted cable warp wires are thereby connected in pairs or sets of two each. At the same time as the solder connects eachpair of twistedcable warp wires it connects each pair with the last weft wire. After both ends of the fabric have been thus prepared,

they are positioned in proper relation to each other and the warp wire ends are brazed or otherwise secured together.

With the foregoing objects in view and others that will become apparent hereinafter, the invention is fully described in the following speciflcation and illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof and in which Y preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. Referring to said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view on a large scale of a portion of one endof a woven wire belt before it has been joined to the other end;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are fragmentary plan views showing different ways of securing the ends of the woven wire belt together.

Referring again to said drawing and particularly to Figs. 1,. 2 and 3, the warp wires are designated by the reference numeral Iii and the weft wires by the numeral ll. As will be noted in the drawing the warp wires arein the form -of a twisted cable and are formed by twisting a plurality of relatively fine wires around. a cotton core. The weft wires are formed of the usual single strands. The twisted cable warp wires due to their cotton core and for other reasons do not lend themselves to known forms of brazed or welded seaming and hence a sewed seam with the disadvantages heretofore pointed out has been resorted to.

In preparing the ends ofxthe wire fabric preparatory to forming the seam, one or more weft wires are removed and the ends of the warp wires are brought together in pairs, each pair comprising an upper and lower Twarp wire. Each end of the wirecloth fabric is preparedwith silver solder and the ends of the twisted cable warp wires are trimmed beyond the last weft wire, being then positioned in such a. way that the silver solder will flow by capillary attraction from each upper warp wire end to the adjoining lower warp wire end. All the warp wire ends are thus joined together in pairs or sets of two each as indicated at I2. -At the same time the solder connects each pair of warp-wireswith the last weft wire as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5. The silver solder might be applied in various ways. One method that has been found quite satisfactory is to remove the last weft wire and substitute for it a weft wire of silver solder and then by the use of a torch blow-pipe the silver solder will flow to accomplish what has heretofore been described.

After both ends of the wirecloth fabric have been thus prepared they are positioned so that the soldered sets of pairs of warp wires abut each other or are exactly opposite each other as illustrated in Fig. 3. The warp wire ends are then brazed together by a torch blow-pipe, thus forming a strong seam with the warp wire ends joined together and with the last weft wires united with them. The area covered by the silver solder is relatively so small that it will not noticeably interfere with the normal drain age of the wirecloth. The silver solder is indicated in the various views by the reference numeral I l.

Fig. 4 shows a slightly different form of the invention. In this form the sets or pairs-of warp wires are staggered in relation to each other instead of being in abutting relation, preparatory to forming the seam. A longer trim for the warp wires might be utilized as shown in Fig. 4. The

line of brazing as indicated at l5 forms what might be termed in effect an added weft wire.

In Fig. 5 the ends of the wirecloth fabric are prepared as described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. However, instead of brazingthe ends together as in Fig. 3, the ends are secured together by a lacing wire 2@.

Changes in detail such as would occur to one skilled in the art are to be considered as coming within the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A seam for a woven wire belt having warp wires and weft wires, said warp wires being twisted cable wires, said seam having the ends 0! the warp wires on each end of the belt soldered together in pairs in the region of the last weft wire and said last weft wire being adjacent to and enclosed by each of said pairs of warp wires and being soldered to said pairs of war wire ends, the pairs on each end being placed in abutting relation to each other and soldered together to form the seam.

W .1 J. TAYLOR. 

